A theatrical sketch based on the iconic World War One song 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' (aka 'Hinky Dinky Parley Voo'), this presentation is believed to have continued the tradition established by soldiers from other countries of adapting the words to reflect their own experiences and perspectives of the war.
The Argus theatre critic writes of the 1925 Athenaeum production, 'With a touch of pathos and well-staged, 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' was another of the items which gave exceptional pleasure. It was sung by Mr Ern Kopke, and the chief acting parts were taken by Miss Jessie Hanna, Mr Clyde Fields, and Miss Rosette Powell. With the song most people who patronise amusements are now familiar, it is the acting and the stage effects which make it so well worthy of a place in a programme of the kind' (7 September 1925, p.14).
The Age theatre critic was similarly taken with the theatricality and sentiment of the piece, recording, 'The little sketch, admirably conceived and carried out, is heartbreaking in a way; and yet the heart does not break, but is stirred to beat faster. There are diggers - real diggers - in that little rest house somewhere in France, and when the call comes and they move out and pass the window in a long file, some never to come back, one feels that there is a truly simple little relic from the ghastly past now happily over - a relic crowded with the dogged spirit and the incomparable valour of those who were men. Nothing quite as touching, quite so simply grand has ever been presented here before as that picture of those war-weary men filing past the window in the dusk, bound for the inferno of the trenches' (7 September 1925, p.12).
The Daily Mercury (Mackay) records, too, that 'The parting with the Digger's "Froggie" sweetheart, and her heart-broken prayer and mourning when she was told that he had been killed in battle, presented "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" in a light totally different and more fitting than has ever been heard before' (13 May 1925, n. pag.).
Diggers
F. W. Thring
,
( dir. F. W. Thring
)
Melbourne
:
Efftee Film Productions
,
1931
Z1396612
1931
single work
film/TV
humour
Diggers primarily concerns the adventures of two Australian 'cobbers,' Chic Williams and Joe Mulga, who are serving in the A.I.F. in France during 1918. Much of the narrative is based on three of the Famous Diggers' more popular live sketches: namely, an incident involving the stealing of some rum (Rum Doings), the hospital scene where Chic and Joe feign illness (Chic and Joe in Hospital), and a scene set in a French estaminet (Mademoiselle from Armentieres). An unidentified Brisbane review held in the Pat Hanna Collection (Performing Arts Centre, Melbourne) records, for example, that 'Diggers made its Brisbane premiere at the Regent Theatre on Saturday. Many of the incidents have been played by Pat on the Brisbane stage, but they are worth repetition... There was a laugh when Pat feigns deafness in hospital so that he will not be sent to the front lines. He even remains motionless when a revolver is fired next to his ear, but when a champagne cork pops from the bottle it is too much and he reveals the sham' (n. pag.).
In the first sketch, Chic and Joe, who are typically anti-authoritarian, convince a fellow digger, Bluey, to help them steal some rum from the Quartermaster's store. The second sketch is played out in hospital, where Chic, Joe, and Fatty feign battle fatigue and illness in order to avoid being set back up the line. They are questioned by a medical officer who finds all but Chic to be malingerers. Although he successfully convinces the MO that he is the only genuine case (even when a pistol is fired behind his head), Chic later gives himself away by reacting to the pop of a champagne cork. The final sketch is based on the Famous Diggers' theatrical rendition of the song 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres.' Combining a mixture of romance and pathos, the narrative concerns a young French girl and her Australian lover shortly before he returns to the front. She later learns that he has been killed.
The authorship of the original song has long been disputed. Edward Rowland and Canadian composer Lt. Glitz Rice have been attributed as the creators, as have Englishmen Harry Carlton and Joe Tunbridge. Another British song writer, Harry Wincott (aka Alfred James Waldon), also claimed to have written it.
'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' is believed to have included some forty verses. During the course of the war and beyond, these verses were changed and adapted by countless people, mostly soldiers, and in this respect served as a means of reflecting on and articulating the thoughts and experiences of those men. According to Melbert B. Cary Jnr, 'Every incident of local importance could be lampooned, and was. The song grew exuberantly and spontaneously. No one will ever know how many verses were improvised, sung and subsequently lost, but they numbered thousands, for almost every [Allied] unit contributed its quota' (p.370). Cary goes on to note that several popular topics found common expression, notably comments upon the habits of the armies of other nations, the lampooning of officers, the Y. M. C. A., and the discomforts of life in the trenches (pp.370-372).
For further details on 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' and its connection to American soldiers, see Melbert B. Cary Jnr, 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' Journal of American Folklore 47.186 (1934), pp.369-376.
The Pat Hanna Collection (Performing Arts Centre, Melbourne) contains Hanna's prose account of how the song and legend came about. [Reference No: 2001.025].
1925: April-May, Queensland regional tour.
1925: 5-11 September, Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne.
1927: ca. December, Gardens Theatre, Adelaide.
Mademoiselle from Armentieres
Pat Hanna
,
1925
Australia
:
Vocalion
,
Z1396901
1925
single work
lyric/song
sketch (theatrical)
humour
war literature
Pat Hanna's version of the iconic First World War song 'Mademoiselle from Armentieres' (aka 'Hinky Dinky Parley Voo') continued the tradition of adapting the words to express the experiences of soldiers during the war.
